Rotatable multi-purpose building

ABSTRACT

A rotatable storage building consisting of a roof supported in part at its center on a vertical post, and a surrounding wall depending from the periphery of the roof and extending downwardly approximately to a fixed floor or ground where its lower edge rests on wheels which co-operate with the central post to support the load of the roof and wall and loads on a horizontal hoist which extends from the center of the building to and outwardly from the wall through a door in the wall. The building may be rotated by manual or power means to position the door and hoist at any desired location.

nited States Patent 1191 Pope I [[1119 3,815,298 June 11, 1974 ROTATABLE MULTl-PURPOSE BUILDING [76] Inventor: Ralph E. Pope, Titusville, Fla.

[22] Filed: May 4, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 357,265

Related U.S. ApplicationData [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 75,313, Sept. 25, l970, abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 878,807, Nov. 21, 1969, abandoned.

[52] US. Cl 52/65, 52/237, 214/161 A V [51] Int. Cl E04b 1/346 [58] Field of Search 2l4/16.l R, 16.1 A, 16 B, 214/161 C, 16.1 CC, 16.1 CE, 16.4 R;

[56] References Cited 1 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,964,144 12/1960 Wheeler "214/161 A X 2,974,449 3/1961 Leeper,Sr. 52/65 3,670,464

6/1972 Cutter 52/30 3,736,707 6/1973 Neufeld 52/65 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 238,169 9/1911 Germany 5 2/65 Primary Examiner-Albert J. Makay Assistant Examiner-R. B. Johnson 57 ABSTRACT p A rotatable storage building consisting of a'roof supported in part at its center on a vertical post, and a surrounding wall depending from the periphery of the roof and extending downwardly approximately to a fixed floor or ground where its lower edge rests on wheels which co-operate with the: central post to sup port the load of theroof-andwall and loads on a horizontal hoist which extends from the center of the building to and'outwardly' from the wall through a door inthe wall. The building'may be rotated by manual or power means to position the door and hoist at any desired location.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUN 1 1 m4 SHEET 2 [IF 2 1 ROTATABLE MULTI-PURPOSE BUILDING RELATION TO OTHER CASES This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 75,313, filed Sept. 25, 1970, for Rotatable Multi-Purpose Building, now abancloned, which was a continuation-in-part of my then copending application Ser. No. 878,807, filed Nov. 21, 1969, for Hangar for Multiple Aircraft, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION ting clam shell half buildings which are mounted for selective, independent rotation over a fixed floor sur face. The deficiencies of this type result from the expensive construction of the clam shells themselves, the equally expensive tracks which are required to support the two shells, andthe complex, unsatisfactory operation of sucha building.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The rotatable building provided by the invention has demonstrated by technical and commercial success that it does not suffer from the deficiencies of the rotatable buildings of the prior art. The building according to the invention comprises a rotatable unitary structure consisting of a roof which is supported in part at its center on a pole extending upwardly from a fixed floor or ground surface and a wall depending from the entire periphery of the roof to adjacent the fixed floor or ground surface where its lower periphery is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced wheels which rest on the fixed floor or ground surface and cooperate with the pole to support the load of the rotatable structure. An access opening is provided in the wall adjacent the ground surface and a door is mounted on the wall adjacent the opening. A power or manually operated hoist extends horizontally from the central part of the building to, and outwardly of, the access opening for facilitating the movement of goods into and out of the building.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rotatable storage building provided by the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the building, showing its use for storage, and

FIG. 3 is a side view of the building, partly in section.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A storage building constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed in the drawings and comprises, first, a generally flat, fixed floor surface 2, which may be the ground surface, and which supports a fixed vertical pole 4. At its upper end 2 the pole 4 rotatably supports an array of radially outwardly extending beams or trusses 6 which support a conical roof 8. To the periphery of the roof there is' connected a depending wall 10 which is continuous throughout the periphery of the roof and which has an opening or doorway 12 adjacent the ground or floor surface 2 which provides access to the interior of the building. One or more doors 14 are provided for this opening and may be moved from positions opening or closing the doorway, and may be suitably supported for sliding or other movement.

The rotatable assembly of roof 6, 8 and wall l0 is supported by the central post 4 and also by wheels 20 which are attached to and extend downwardly from the lower edge of the wall 10 and are located at spaced intervals about the wall. These wheels rest on the ground or floor surface 2 and may, if desired, ride in a circular track (not shown) which surrounds or forms part of the fixed floor surface beneath the rotatable building.

By reason of the support of the rotatable building on the central post and by the ground engaging wheels loads of very great weight may be supported by the rotatable structure. This permits the provision of an additional feature of the invention, which is the provision of a horizontal hoist 30 which extends radially outwardly from the central part of the building with its outer ends protruding through the door opening 12 in the side wall. This hoist may be provided in a known manner with a traveling member 32 which may be moved by electrical, mechanical or other means along its length so that goods may be transported into and out of the building. An example of this is shown in FIG. 1 in which a heavy article 40, such as a packing case, is supported on the horizontal hoist 30 in a position outside the building and it will be apparent that the building may be rotated with the load 40 to any desired azimuthal position after which the load'may be moved along the hoist 30 to a position within the building at which it may be stored. It will be obvious that the reverse operation may be accomplished at anytime in order to move an article stored within the building to a position outside the building by suspending it on the hoist, after which the building and hoist may be rotated to a desired position at which the load A may be loaded on a truck or otherwise disposed of. It will be seen that when a heavy weight is carried by the hoist the load on -the rotatable building will be unbalanced and the wheels adjacent the hoist location act to prevent tipping of the building.

The use of the building for general storage is shown in FIG. 2, and it will be seen that in the use of the building any type of article or load, such as packing cases 40, aircraft 42 or vehicles 44 which are outside the building may be lifted there by the hoist traveler 32 and moved into the building along the hoist 30, after which the building may be rotated until the load is above a desired floor space onto which the load may be deposited. Obviously, the reverseoperation may be performed to remove articles from the building.

I claim:

1. A storage building comprising a fixed floor surface, a support pole extending vertically upwardly from the fixed floor surface, a roof rotatably supported at its center at or adjacent the upper end of the support pole, a substantially continuous vertical wall extending downwardly from the periphery of the roof with its lower edge adjacent the fixed floor surface, a plurality fixed floor surface, and a door for such opening supported by the wall adjacent the wall opening and mounted for movement to open or close such opening. 

1. A storage building comprising a fixed floor surface, a support pole extending vertically upwardly from the fixed floor surface, a roof rotatably supported at its center at or adjacent the upper end of the support pole, a substantially continuous vertical wall extending downwardly from the periphery of the roof with its lower edge adjacent the fixed floor surface, a plurality of wheels spaced about the lower edge of the wall and in rolling contact in a substantially single circular path with the fixed floor surface whereby the support pole and the wheels together support the combined weight of the roof and wall, an opening in the wall adjacent tHe fixed floor surface, and a door for such opening supported by the wall adjacent the wall opening and mounted for movement to open or close such opening. 